


The Winter Creature prologue

by BlaiddtheWolf



Series: The Winter Creature [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Creature Fic, Help, Hydra (Marvel), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, creature!bucky, hes not human so..., monster!bucky, sort of, winter soldier - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-10-12 10:36:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10488954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlaiddtheWolf/pseuds/BlaiddtheWolf
Summary: what happened to the creature while it was with first the russians then hydra.





	1. capture

The creature wakes slowly, whimpering in pain. It is laying on a cold stone floor, the walls around it a smooth stone as well with a metal barred door. The creature looks around, as far as it can without moving. There is a grate on the middle of the floor and the stench of mildew and rotten blood drifts up from it, and nothing else. The creature shifts, trying to move, but it can’t, it’s in to much pain. It hears shouting from the other side of the door of the room it is in then the doors are wrenched open. Three men march in and try to grab the creatures arms, no… arm. Only one arm. The creature screeches as it looks at the bloody stump its arm has become. The men let go and presses their hands over their ears and the creature continues to scream, and the creature takes the opportunity to leap up and bite into one mans neck, holding on to his shoulder with its one hand so they don't tip over. The man gurgles and the two others try to pull the creature away from him, only succeeding in ripping flesh from the mans neck. They scream and drop the man and the creature and flee the room, locking the door behind them and leaving the dead man with the creature. The creature needs food if it is to escape, to destroy every single one of the men that brought it here, so it crouches beside the man and begins to eat.

 

Andrei looks back between the bars and at the monster and Grigory. Oh god… its eating him. The monster is crouching over Grigory and is taking large bites out of his arm and then swallowing them whole. Andrei looks over at Isaak, who pulls out his stun baton and nods. Andrei pulls out his own baton and they open the cage back up and rush in, batons lit up and sparking. The monster growls at them and lunges, but both thrust forward their sticks, Andrei’s connecting with the monsters stomach and Isaak’s on its arm. It screams again and stumbles back, Isaak takes the opportunity to grab Grigory and drag him out of the cage. Andrei follows after them and the door shuts just as the monster slams itself against the bars, reaching forward with a clawed hand. 

 

They took him away! They took away its food and shocked it with sticks and it is going to rip them to pieces! They scramble out of the reach of its claws like cowards and don't come near again. It slinks back to the middle of its cage and sits, adrenaline wearing off and its hurts returning. The creature remembers its lost an arm and it’s agonizing. Half its ribs are broken and most of its body is bruised, its whole body aches. The creature shuts its eyes and tries to control its wavering breaths. It just needs to heal, heal and then it can escape and go back home. 

 

The creature wakes to voices approaching its cell. “Why did you bring me here to look at a broken prisoner? Why haven't you just killed him yet?”

“It’s not just a prisoner, wait till you see.”

“This had better be worth my time.”

“It will be, I assure you.”

The voices stop outside its bars. 

“Don't get too close sir”

“Why not?”

Theres a banging and the creature snaps its head up. Its one of the men that took away its food! The creature leaps up and smashes itself against the bars, reaching out with its claws and baring its teeth in an obvious threat. 

“Oh my god, how did you get one of these?”

“We found it at the bottom of a cliff. What is it?”

“It is called a lyudoyed in Russia, here they call it a fleischesser. They are extremely dangerous, I am surprised you managed to get it here.”

“It has already killed four men sir, three on the way here and one yesterday. Yesterday…yesterday it had begun to eat the man before we could get his body out.”

“Yes, their preferred food source is human, though they'll eat any raw meat. You know, I've heard tales of ways to control these beasts.”

“Control them sir?” 

“Yes, that there is… a sort of code phrase that will put the creature under the the speakers control.”

“And what does the, the lyudoyed do under ones control?” 

“Anything.”

Theres a pause and everyone looks at the creature. It snarls under the attention. It will skin them all, pull them apart piece by piece until they wish they had left the creature to die out in the snow. 

“I want a team to help me research, to help me find the lyudoyeds code.”

“Of course sir.”

Then they all walk away, still discussing ways to control it, leaving the creature alone. And hungry. It hardly got any food yesterday, and before that had not eaten in weeks, so its stomach aches. It vows to escape and eat every one of the bastards that are keeping it here. 

Everyday people walk by the creatures cage, and every time it smashes itself against the bars, trying to get its claws on every one of them, but they walk just far enough away that it is not possible. Another week passes and someone in padding walks up to the cage.

“Now, don't bite me, I'm here to feed you okay? No need to be nasty.” he says and holds out a rat with one gloved hand between the bars. The creature stares at the rat, then the man. They expect it to eat that? When a perfectly good human is offering up his arm? The creature slinks slowly to the cage door and gently reaches out its hand as if to grab the rat. “Good boy, there you go, nice and easy.” The man says in a calm voice. Yes indeed nice and easy. Once the creature gets close enough it darts forward and grabs the mans hand, then bites down on his upper arm. its mouth fills with fluff from the padded jacket but it just keeps biting until it reaches skin, then begins ripping into the flesh. The man is screaming, and other men are trying to pull him back, but the creature has a firm grip on his arm, even with only one arm itself. The creature tears and bites and swallows, ripping the mans arm apart. But then there are those sticks that shock shoved in its face and it flails backwards, screaming. More shouting from outside its cage as the man whose arm it mauled is rushed away. The creature knows it hit a fair few major arteries and veins, if the man is not fixed quickly he will bleed out. Humans are just so fragile. The creature didn't get very much food from him, but there is something in its belly. Oh and a rat. Might as well eat that too. The creature picks it up off the floor where it was dropped by the man. It’s cold, like its been out in the snow, but the creature is used to that. Fresh and hot is better, but food is food, so it eats the rat. 

The creature snaps it ahead up once more at the sound of angry screaming. “No, I will beat it to death! Let go of me!” A man marches up to the cage door. “You! You filthy beast, you killed Semyon! You will pay!” Oh please let the man be as stupid as the creature thinks he is. The man flings open the door. Yes. The creature cowers in the corner, as if afraid of the mans anger. “Thats right, you should be scared! I will kill you!” Just a little closer… now. As the mans raises a fist to beat down on the creature, it steps up and forward, under the mans arm and at his unprotected neck. Its jaws snap shut around his throat, crushing his windpipe and severing his jugular. Blood sprays across the creatures front and it swallows more of it. It would stay and feast but there are more men rushing into its cage, so it drops the man that attacked him and grabs the next by the throat with its claws and breaks his neck. The rest stay back and pull out their shock sticks. Great, those things. The creature tries to get past them, but those damn sticks hurt! They makes its body seize and its mind go white. They manage to pull out one body, but they cant get far enough past the creature to drag out the man that attacked it. 

“Just leave him! It’s his own fault this happened.” One man calls out, and the rest retreat out of the cage and slam the door shut, leaving it with the body of its attacker. The creature stutters to its knees, the multiple shocks from the sticks leaving it weary. But it has food now. Proper food, not just an arm and a rat. It decides it will eat now and sleep later, so shuffles over to the body and rips open the mans shirt, then leans down and bites into his belly. The man is all hard muscle, thick and filling, and the creature revels in the taste of human flesh after eating the rat. When it reaches the mans organs it hears arguing from just beyond its cage.

“It cannot be kept! It is too dangerous.”

“But imagine the wonders it could do if it were under our control, it would be the ultimate weapon!”

“If! If you can control it! But you cannot, and it being here is a risk to all our lives, a risk I am not willing to take.”

“Give them time, they will find the words to control the monster, then all will be well.”

“Very well. They have a month. After that the creature gets put down.”

Again with the controlling, as if these men could ever control the creature! The creature is not worried about that, but this means it only has a month to work up enough strength to escape, to heal and ready itself. Or… it could not. It could just stay and let them put it down, because does it really want to go back home? The chances of its father letting it come back with only one arm are slim, the weak cannot stay, and it would have a worse chance of surviving on its own. Perhaps dying is better. 

No. It must survive, it must escape, no matter what waits for it outside.


	2. ready to comply

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the creature words are discovered and it gets a new arm

A month later, long after the attacker is nothing but bones, the creature sees a group of people gather around its cage, and one man steps forward. “Desiderans.” The word… tickled its mind. Like it’s trying to remember something far away but cant quite reach it. It does not like it and snarls at the man, the one who knows what he is, who is saying the word. “Rubiginem, decem et septum.” Now the tickle is a pain, like a headache after not eating for too long. “Mane, caminus, novem.” It can feel the words wrapping themselves around it, squeezing its mind. “Benigne, donec, unum, suspendisse car” The creature shudders.

“Ready to comply.” There are little shocked breaths around the room at its words, but no one speaks. “Ready to comply.” it repeats. 

The man, the handler, smiles. “Good day. You shall be a valuable asset.” The handler opens the cage door. Everyone but the handler shuffle back with frightened looks on their faces. “Step out of the cell please.” The creature steps forward until it is out of the cell and stops. “Now face me.” The creature does as it is told and turns toward its handler. “Good boy” the handler says and holds out a dead mouse. The creature is not sure what it is supposed to do, so does nothing. “Eat it from my hand.” the handler commands. Carefully, so as not to bite the handlers fingers, the creature leans forward and takes the mouse from the mans hand, then swallows it whole. Its stomach gurgles happily at the offering of food, even such a little piece. “You liked that, did you?” the handler asks. The creature nods. “Answer me out loud.”

“Yes sir.” the creature answers. The handler slaps it, hard, across the face. 

“You are a thing! A weapon, you are not allowed to feel, to like, to dislike!” the handler screams at it. “You only obey, that is all you are.”

“Yes sir.” the creature agrees. It has only ever been a thing, but now the thing has a handler, and the thing can be useful, can serve its master. “Yes sir.”

“Kneel.” the handler instructs. The creature gets down on its knees, and the handler fists his hand in its long hair and pulls its head back, exposing its throat in a forced submissive gesture. “You see men, it can be tamed. We now have the greatest weapon we could hope for.” he throws the creature to the floor, where it stays. “It will need an arm if it is to be useful.” the handler tells one of the men in the small crowd. 

“Yes sir.” he responds, and scurries off, bringing a few other men with him. The creature is shoved back inside its cage and the door is locked. The handler pauses outside the door and gazes at the creature. 

“You may very well shape the century.” he tells it, then walks away.

————————

 

Four weeks go by and every day a rat is slid across the floor so it is within the creatures reach. Every day the creature takes the rat and eats it in a few frenzied bites. At the end of the fourth week the man who was its handler approaches the cage. He has no food so the creature growls a warning. “None of that now.” he chides, then says the words that wrap themselves around the creatures mind and give the man control. The creature shivers at the words and stands, stepping beside the door and waiting for a command from its handler. The handler opens the door and leads the creature to a sterile with room with a cot in the middle, surrounded by strange devices it does not understand. “Lay down on the bed” the handler commands. The creature approaches the cot and lowers itself onto it. “Good boy.” the handler praises, and begins to bind leather bands around the creatures wrist, ankles, legs, and chest, strapping it to the cot. When he is finished he steps back and other men in long white coats step forward. The creature eyes them, but does not growl. It is not allowed to dislike how close they are getting, not allowed to hate when they stick things attached to wires to its skin, not allowed to feel discomfort or pain when they begin prodding at the stump of its arm. The creatures breathing quickens the more they touch it and it looks to its handler. The handler just stands, watching, not moving. The handler will not help it. It must endure this on its own. 

The creature cant help but bare its teeth when a particularly large needle is stuck into the raw stump of its arm, and the man holding the needle stinks of fear but does not waver from his task. The handler leans back against the far wall and continues to watch as the men slip a needle into the vein of the creatures intact arm and inject something into its blood. They step back and after a few moments exchange glances.

“It should be out by now.”

“How is it still awake?”

“Give it more.”

“If we inject to much-”

“I don't care, give it more.”

A needle is once again slipped under its skin and this time its eyes feel heavy, and all it should do is sleep, but it doesn't want to. It hears more voices but can’t make out what is being said, then once again it feels a prick, and darkness consumes the creature. 

——————————

 

The creature wakes slowly. It feels… heavy, on one side. Its left, where it just got used to there being nothing. The creature manages to snap the restraints and lift its hands. Hands, it has two now, it has two hands and the words have unwrapped themselves from its mind, leaving it with only burning hate. One man in a white coat leans over the creature and it grabs him by the neck with its new hand, a metal hand, and squeezes. Once the mans throat has been crushed it throws him across the room, knocking down another man as he comes to rush to the now dead mans aid. The creature sits up and breaks the straps across his chest and legs, and growls at the three men approaching it with guns and the shocking sticks. 

“I thought you had it controlled!”

“The words wear off, I thought we had a few more hours, the sedative must have decreased the effects. We know for next time.”

“Next time? You're expecting me to not shoot it? After all its done?”

“What you see is worth billions, that arm by itself is worth more than your life! Detain only!”

The creature snarls at its former handler and rises from the bed, legs still slightly shaky. ignoring its own wobbliness, the creature lurches forward but is met with a shocking stick to its face. It stops and screams, holding its hands to its burnt cheekbone. Two more bursts of blinding pain on its back and the creature falls to its knees. It tries to get up but the end of the stick is slammed into its skull, sending it to the ground. More shocks, more hits, more pain, and then the words.

“Desiderans.” The creature tries to get up, tries to stop the man from taking control again, but a shocking stick is pressed between its shoulder blades and held there until the creature can smell its own flesh burning. “Rubiginem, decem et septum, mane, caminus, novem, benigne, donec, unum, suspendisse car.” The creature collapses.

“Ready to comply.” it rasps. 

“Stand up.” the handler commands. The creature stands slowly, its back burning. “Now!” the handler yells and grabs onto the creatures hair and pulls it up. The creature can't help the whimper that escapes it. “What do you think you were doing? Do you think you can kill without being told to? That you could ever possibly get free? This, this is all you will get.” Then the handler throws the creature back down to the ground then slams his boot into the creatures stomach. The creature wheezes and tries to get up, but the handler stomps on its flesh hand, breaking bones. “Stay down!” the handler commands, so the creature collapses and lets the handler beat it. The beating goes on for what feels like hours, and its healed ribs snap again. The burn on its back will heal within a few days, the broken bones a week or two, depending on where and how bad they are. It can handle this. It can, it can…

A boot lands on the new seam of metal to flesh and the creature screams. Already it hurt, already it felt like the new arm was going to rip off, but now… now its just agony. The creature is left on the ground, shaking, waiting for more abuse, but none comes. And this is almost worse, just waiting for the pain to come, flinching at every movement and whimpering at every sound. The creature is left in the middle of the floor for hours until someone who is not the handler comes and drags it back to its cage. The creature is shoved in and the bars shut loudly behind it. It keens and drags itself to the far end of the cage, away from the door, away for the pain. It takes as deep of breaths as it can with its broken and bruised ribs. Eventually it passes out rather than falls asleep.

The next morning the creature is still half asleep when it hears voices outside its cage. 

“Should we risk it?”

“It may just turn it into a drooling mess.”

“But theres a chance it will work?”

“Well of course theres a chance, but its how much of a chance thats the problem.”

“Oh just do it!”

“But what if it fails?”

“Then we find another one, we have the words now, we know how to control them.”

“But isn't that why were doing this, because we cant control it?”

“Shut up all of you and prep the chair, were doing this.”

“Yes sir.”

Theres a zapping sound and the smell of electricity in the air and the cage door opens. The creature struggles to all fours and snarls at the men with the shocking sticks, but they just hold them up and keep advancing. The creature tries to shuffle backwards but is already against the wall, is stuck, cant move back, so instead leaps forward toward the men, but this time they are ready for it and block with the sticks. “Come on, this can be easy for you. Doesn't have to be hard.” one of the men says. The creature glares at him and lunges, twisting out of the way of the first stick but the second one catches it in the flesh arm and it hisses, jumping backwards. Two more men come forward with poles that have hoops on the end, and one of them manages to loop the rope around the creatures neck. This allows the second one to hook its neck as well, and the two men hold the creature between them. It thrashes and tries to get its fingers under the loops but they just tighten whenever it tries. The creature is dragged out its cage, fighting the whole way, to room much like the one where it was given its new arm but with a strange chair looking thing in the middle with a large ring around the top and heavy metal restraints on the arms. The creature knows they are for it, knows that this chair will hold pain, it smells the same as the shocking sticks, like the air as lightening flashes through it. It struggles more but it is wrestled into the chair, the restraints clapped around its arms. The ring descends from above and a device wraps around parts of its face. The creature struggles and bucks and thrashes, but the restraints and device hold firm and something rubbery is shoved into its mouth. 

Then pain. The shocking sticks are pleasant compared to this; the electricity that seizes its whole body and seems to liquify its brain. A scream rips through the creature, then another, and another. The creature can’t see, or smell, or hear anything, cant feel anything but horrible tortuous pain. If the creature thought its bones shattering when it fell from the cliff hurt, or a new arm of metal being grafted to its skin, well this… this was indescribable. Minutes pass before the machine ceases its tortures, and when it does finally shut off the creature can’t do anything but shiver in its restraints. The device is lifted from its face and the metal bands around its biceps and forearms release and the creature slumps forward, falling onto the floor. It lay there, twitching until a man, the creature thinks it is the man who was his handler, steps forward and recites the words.


	3. hydra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the creature is tested then sold to hydra

This time the words last five days before they have to be repeated. In this time, and in the following months, they test how long it takes different lacerations and other injuries to heal. They watch in amazement as small cuts and scrapes heal before their eyes, and take progress pictures of the larger cuts as they shrink down to nothing over the course of course of the day. Most of the burns from the stun batons heal within the first day, the larger one between its shoulder blades takes two days. Over the first week the broken ribs and hand heal completely, and a fractured humerus they find takes two weeks. The creature had not had a fractured humerus, so they had had to break it. After they were done with that they do tests to gauge what dosage of tranquilizers and other drugs is enough to paralyze the creature, how much to knock it out and for how long. Once they were scared they had killed the creature, but they managed to resuscitate it. Numerous other tests are performed on the creature over the coming months, from endurance to strength to how long it can go without food. That one takes over four months, and even then it wasn't because it had collapsed, it had just gotten so shaky they couldn't insert a needle. They find out the creature can sing three months into the test when it began to lure a young guard into its cell. It was mere luck another guard was walking by when he did and stopped the other guard from opening the cell and walking to his death. After that they keep a muzzle on it whenever its not eating or commanded to speak. 

Then starts the training. Hand to hand, knives, guns, explosives, they train the creature in everything. The creature perfects it all after the first time it is shown anything, and already knows any language they attempt to teach it. They discover, through the language sessions, that it can imitate voices and sounds it hears. 

The first missions the creature is sent on are long distance assassinations using a sniper rifle. Clean head shots on every one. Its first up close mission is to take out a mole, Luka Krupin, discovered in their ranks. They instruct the creature to make it messy and brutal, a warning to any who dare betray them in the future. 

 

the creature

 

The creature crushes the lock with its metal and opens the door, not caring if it makes noise. It walks into the house, boots thumping loudly against the hardwood floors, toward the bedroom. Halfway there Krupin creeps down the hall with a shotgun toward the creature. 

“You. Get out of my house or I’ll shoot.” he warns quietly. The creature just tilts its head. It’s not like a shotgun shot will do much. Hurt, sure, but it wont slow it down and will heal in less than a week. They tested it. However the creature does not want to be shot again so takes a swift step forward and bats the barrel of the gun away from itself before Krupin can shoot. Krupin tries to swing the butt of the gun around to smack it in the head but the creature just grabs it with its metal hand and snatches the gun away from the man, tossing it across the room and grabbing Krupin by the throat in the same movement. Its claws prick into Krupins neck, drawing little spots of blood. The man tries to say something else but his words are gargled and weak. The creature squeezes slowly, the man gasping for air, until he passes out. The creature then drops Krupin to the floor with a loud thunk and kneels down next to him, rolling him onto his back and pauses. 

Its handler gave the instructions to make the killing messy and brutal, but he never said how. The creature knows it is messy when it eats, and certainly brutal, and it was never told it couldn’t. And the creature is really hungry, rats just aren't enough. Decision made the creature rips off Krupins shirt, leans down and bites into his abdomen. Krupin awakes with a scream and thrashes, so it places one hand on his chest and one on his thigh, holding him down while it swallows the first bite. The man is a little fatty and oily and his flesh slides down its throat easily, so the creature can take larger bites without worrying about chewing.

Theres a small sound from the bedroom and the creature lifts its head. Krupin is still awake and sobs out a little “no” and tries to grab onto the creature. The noise continues down the hall and the creature lets out a small rumbling growl. Someone else is in the house, someone the creature was not told of. A woman step out of the hall and gasps at the sight of the creature hunched over Krupin. “Lilya, run!” he cries out weakly, and the woman darts back down the hall. The creature leaps after her and catches up in a few strides and grabs onto her arm. She screams and tries to hit it, but the creature snatches her hand and drags her over to Krupin. It flings her to the ground next to him and watches as she takes his head into her lap. 

“Oh sweetie, what'd he do to you?” she cries. She looks up at the creature, “What'd you do to him?!” The creature smiles and licks blood off its lips. She sobs harder and curls around Krupin’s head. 

The creature doesn't know what to do. Does it kill her? Does it leave her? Does it make her watch as it devours her husband? Does it eat her too? Was this a test? What happens if it fails? In the end it simply walks up behind her as she is sobbing into her dying husbands chest and snaps her neck. Krupin screams as she slumps over him then falls on her side to the floor. that done the creature moves back to Krupin and resumes eating. It moves around his body, tearing flesh from his arms and legs as well as his abdomen. The creature makes sure it is messy, tossing intestines around the room and pulling off his left arm. Blood sprays everywhere and the creature is drenched in it. The creature eats until it is full, because who knows when its next full meal will be? Finally finished with the mission the creature pulls out a small device and pushes a button on it, signaling that it is ready for pickup. It then sits in a chair at the doing room table and waits. About five minutes pass and the front door creaks operand five agents stalk in. They stop when they see Krupin and his wife and look around for the creature. 

“Soldier?” they call out. They had all taken to calling the creature Soldier. It did not matter to the creature, it would respond to anything, has responded to many names while with these people. The creature stands and emerges from the dining room and the agents beckon for it to follow them. The creature follows them back out of the house and to a van and climb in before them. Once it is settled the agents climb in and sit opposite to the creature, then the van begins its drive back to the base. It is silent in the van, and the men cast occasional cautious and cagey looks toward the creature. It ignores them. Once back at the base the creature is led to its handler. 

“Soldier, mission report.” he orders.

“Mission successful. Target eliminated as well as unexpected witness.” the creature reports.

“And how did you handle her?” the handler asks. So it was a test.

“Snapped her neck sir.” it answers. The handler hums and nods. Does that mean it passed the test? The creature finds it slightly hard to breathe, awaiting its judgment. 

“Good boy.” the handler finally says. The creature lets out a long silent breath. “And Luka? What did you do to him? You said eliminated, I want details Soldier.” 

“I ate portions of his torso, arms, and legs while he was alive, ripped off his left arm and pulled his intestines from his abdomen.” the creature says flatly. 

“Ate him you say? Hm. I don't remember saying you could do that, Soldier.” the handler says, tone low. 

“No sir, I was told to make it messy and brutal, it was never specified how.” it defends. 

“That is true soldier. Very well, just be sure to ask next time. Overall you did very well, good boy. Most future missions will not be so easy, I hope you understand, this was a test.” he explains.

“Yes sir.” the creature is led back to its cage, which now has a thin mattress in the far corner, and is locked inside. It circles around the room, restless, but eventually calms down enough to lay on the bed. It has no sheets, no blankets, is really just a flat bag of straw, but its warmer than the concrete. The creature settles down and shuts its eyes, drifting off to a dreamless sleep.

—————————

 

Its next missions include more long distance assassinations, more messy messages, sneaking into houses or mansions or compounds and eliminating a single person without tripping any alarms, taking out entire units of enemy soldiers, and other unpleasant and challenging killings that were too difficult or too dangerous for any human team. Over the course of the missions the creature is shot and stabbed, burned and beaten, but all of it necessary if it wanted to succeed. And it needed to succeed, not just because of the words controlling it, but because of fear of punishment. The worst was the chair, but the slicing, beating, burning, tazing, starving, pulling, breaking, drowning, those were all horrible as well.

Then Hydra came along, began to work with them, was impressed by the creature, wanted one of their own, but the creature is one of a kind. So began the bargaining, bartering, trading, selling. Soon enough, the creature is in the hands of Hydra, and so continue the slicing, beating, burning, tazing, starving, pulling, breaking, drowning, but this time more regularly. Now they were not just punishments for a mission gone wrong, if the creature so much as stepped wrong, it was beaten, if it spoke wrong, it was beaten, if it looked too long at any one person, it was beaten. Rats came less often, one every three days if it was lucky. Years wore on and missions continued successfully, but they were worried. How long does a lyudoyed live? This asset was too valuable to let die, so the scientists created a chamber, a chamber for it to be stored, frozen, when not in use, only to be taken out for special missions.


	4. dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the creature gets a new handler

Cold, colder than home. Frozen down to its bones. It feels it may shatter if hit too hard. Then less cold, then less. Until it is only frigid instead of freezing. Then hands, hands pulling and pushing, then cold metal around its arms and head. Then pain, and lightning, and scrambled thoughts and screaming, screaming, screaming. 

“Desiderans. Rubiginem, decem et septum, mane, caminus, novem, benigne, donec, unum, suspendisse car.”

“Ready to comply.”

the creature is still shivering, still cold, still not sure where it is.

“Good morning soldier.” the creature looks up. The handler has a large grin on his face. “My name is Alexander Pierce, and I shall be your new handler.”

“Ready to comply.” the creature repeats. 

“Yes indeed, good boy.” The handler reaches out and runs a hand through the creatures damp hair. The creature lets out a heavy sigh and leans into the touch. Then it remembers it is not allowed to like anything, it is a thing, a weapon, and freezes. “It is all right soldier, you're being good.” the handler tries to assure it. The creature is not fooled. This is a test. It stays still. The handler sighs and drops his hand from the creatures head. “I see this is going to be difficult.” he sighs. The creature doesn't want it to be difficult, difficult means pain. But it doesn't matter what the creature wants, it is not allowed to want. The handler reaches into a small pouch attached to his pocket and pulls out a mouse. “Now you know we have to start small after you come out of cryo, so i need you to eat this.” the handler says. Obediently the creature leans forward and takes the mouse from Pierce’s hand. It holds the mouse between its teeth, waiting for the confirmation it can eat it. “Go ahead.” the handler confirms. The creature tosses the mouse up into the air and catches it again in its mouth and swallows it. The handler once again runs a hand over the creatures head and the creature stills under his touch. The handler scratches gently at the creatures scalp and its eyes slip shut. “You'll be a good boy for me won’t you?” the handler asks. The creature nods its head. “Good.” Then the handler stands, his hand leaving the creatures head, it nearly whines at the loss of contact. Another man steps forward next to pierce. “You are to obey Rumlow as you would me, he is your handler until i get back, do you understand?”

“Yes sir.” the creature says. It looks up at Rumlow, its new handler. He has a smile that is almost a sneer on his young face and it makes the creature want to snarl. 

“You take good care of him Rumlow.” Pierce commands him. 

“Yes sir.” Rumlow replies with a wicked grin. Then the handler turns and leaves the room, leaving the creature in the charge of Rumlow. “Well, soldier. Lets get to work.” 

“Ready to comply.” the creature recites.

“Good, come on.” Rumlow beckons and the creature stands and follows him down halls to a large room with three men sitting tied in the corner. “These men have information we want, you need to get it from them, however you see fit. I will be sitting over there,” he point to a table with a single chair, “to watch. Go for it.” Rumlow waves his hands in the direction of the three men.

The creature turns and faces them. It walks over to them and sits across from them, and gazes at them, one at a time. It tilts its head, considering what it should do.

“We are not afraid of you.” one of them spits. The creature grins, showing off its teeth. They all pale slightly. 

“We are not afraid of you.” The creature parrots in the mans voice. “But you should be.” it says in its preferred voice. The man who spoke shifts uncomfortably. “You see, the thing is, I was just woken up after a really long nap, and the thing about really long naps, you're always hungry after them. So fellas, I'm really hungry. It doesn't matter to me who tells me what I need to know, I just want this all to be over so I can eat. The question I have is, who is that going to be? You look good.” It pokes at one of their bellies with a claw. “You,” it trails its claw over to another, “are really skinny, but I've always liked lean meat. And you,” it tilts the last ones, the one who spoke out, head up, “look like you have a lot of meat on your bones. That’s good. For me at least. How good it is for you depends on how much you cooperate. So, anyone want to tell my buddy over there what he wants to know, or am lucky?” All of them look terrified, but keep their mouths shut. The creature nods. “Theres no possible way to describe what you feel when you're talking to your meal.” It licks its lips then darts forward and snatches the skinny one from the other two and drags him back. He starts screaming and the creature smiles before plunging its teeth into his shoulder. It shakes its head and rips the chunk of flesh off the mans body. 

“Stop! Stop!” the one who didn't speak up shouts. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, just let him go!” The creature swallows the chunk of flesh but lets the skinny man go, and he scrambles back to the other two. The creature stands and lets Rumlow by so he can ask his questions. Its a little disappointed they caved so easily, it really is very hungry, but knows there would have been punishment had it failed. And maybe they'll let it have them when they're done with their questions. It doubts that, but the creature can hope. No, it can’t. Its a thing, it is not allowed to like or dislike, have hopes or wishes. The creature growls softly to itself. It’s frustrated, but it is not allowed to be frustrated, it is angry, but it is not allowed to be angry, it wants to rip something, someone, to pieces, but has not been ordered to. 

“Soldier!” Rumlow’s voice cut through its thoughts. “Soldier, you can have one. Hydra takes no prisoners.” Yes,   
yes yes yes. The skinny one had tasted good, so the creature stalks up to him a grabs the back of his collar, pulling him away from the other two. the man is screaming, struggling, trying to get away, but it will do him no good. There are two shots and the other men have bullet holes in their heads, Rumlow standing over them, gun still held up. 

“Hurry it up soldier.” Rumlow orders. The creature throws the man to the floor and crouches on all fours over him, leans down and bites into his neck. Blood gushes into the creatures mouth and it swallows mouthfuls of the hot liquid. Once the blood flow slows the creature lets go of the now dead mans neck. 

“God, what are you, a fucking vampire?” Rumlow laughs. The creature huffs at the insult, but does not growl. It pulls off the mans pants and moves down so it is hovering over his thighs, then leans down and bites into the flesh. It pulls back, taking the chunk of meat with it and swallowing it down. The creature eats and eats, until one of the mans thighs is gone down to the bone, then uses the metal hand to snap the femur. Thick rich blood oozes from the bone and the creature snatches up the leg and sucks on the marrow. 

“Alright soldier, you're done.” Rumlow says and strides to the creature and tries to pull it from its food. But the creature is not finished, does not want to stop eating, there is still so much meat, so it growls and holds onto the leg. Rumlow jerked its arm again, trying to get it to move away from the body, and the creature turns and snaps at Rumlow’s hand. Rumlow pulls his hand away just in time to keep from losing a few fingers.

“You little bitch!” he seethes. He pulls out a shocking stick and jams it into the creatures neck. It screams as the electricity pours into its body, its limbs clenching and twitching. Rumlow pulls the stick away then shoves it into the creatures belly. Its stomach seizes and all the food in its belly comes back up onto the floor. Rumlow pulls back the stick.

“Look at the fucking mess you made, you useless dog. Clean it up!” Rumlow barks. The creature shivers and stares at the puddle of vomit in front of it, not sure what to do. “Clean it up! Go on, you're a dog, dogs eat their own sick. So get on your knees and clean it up soldier!” So, slowly, the creature leans down and grabs the first chunk of acid coated meat in its teeth. The juices from its stomach tingle in its mouth but the creature swallows thickly and ignores the burn in the back of its throat. The creature continues to pick up pieces of flesh from the floor and ignores any discomfort. Once all the chunks of meat are gone and all that remains is the liquid from its stomach it stops. 

“I never said you could stop. Clean it all up.” Rumlow orders. The creature leans back down and runs its tongue across the floor, lapping up what is now only acid. Its tongue stings and its sensitive throat burns, but the creature manages to clean up everything. 

“Good boy.” Rumlow praises. The creature sits back against the wall, shaking. It does not feel like a good boy. It has never thrown up before in its life, food was too valuable to simply be sicked up, so it is not familiar with the feeling of food traveling the wrong way up its throat, and the thought of that feeling itself almost makes the creature feel the need to throw up again. 

“Alright soldier, lets go.” Rumlow beckons. The creature stands slowly, with a slight wobble in its step, and goes to follow Rumlow. “Ah ah.” Rumlow stops it. “Dogs don't walk on two legs. Get down.” he commands. The creature hesitates for a second too long and Rumlow shocks the back of its knees, sending it to the floor. Rumlow nods and walks off, “come.” he says. The creature shuffles on all fours after rumlow to its cage. there are a few other agents they pass that stare, one of them even laughs, but the creature ignores them. When they get to its cage Rumlow holds the door open for the creature but slams it shut before it is all the way through, shoving it forward into the cell. It lands hard onto its side and stays there, too tired to move.


	5. the chair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the creature does not like the chair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its been a while! but I'm back and ready to wrap this up.

“You did what?”

“He would've been killed anyway, why not get a show at the same time?”

“So you decided, without asking, to let it eat him?”

“Yes sir. Then the ungrateful bastard tried to bite me.”

“It what?!”

“I went to pull it way from the body and it tried to bite me. I made sure it'll never do that again of course.”

“Rumlow, you made a lot of assumptions about what you are allowed to do with the asset.”

“What, I was supposed to let it bite me? Sir.”

“No, you were not supposed to put it in that situation in the first place. You are not its handler, it will not listen to you the way it will listen to me. You will not be allowed to handle the asset alone anymore. Dismissed.”

“Yes sir.”  
Pierce turns to the creature. “So he let you eat from a human did he? I never intended that to happen, though I suppose you're not upset about it.” The creature stares darkly at Pierce. The words have worn off, but it will not attack its handler. That would result in punishment, and the creature would like to avoid that. “I have a mission for you. Not as rewarding as Rumlow’s little project was, but you won’t protest will you soldier?” The creature continues its glaring but, as Pierce had said, does not protest. Protesting wouldn't do any good, all it would result in is pain. Over the years the creature has decided it does not like pain, and would do a lot to avoid it. Sure it could handle some, but those shocking sticks… and they know it is terrified of them, and use that fully to their advantage.

“Soldier, come with me, we’ll get you ready for your mission.” Then, even though the effect of the words have worn off, opens the cage door. The creature stills. Part of it wants to leap up and rip Pierce’s throat out, but knows that will result in punishment beyond belief, so it stands and follows Pierce out of its cage. It is led to the room with the Chair that Pierce directs it to. This is too much, the fear of the Chair overwhelms the fear of punishment, so the the creature stands where it is, not moving toward the chair, but not running away either.

“Soldier, get in the chair.” Pierce orders.

“No.” the creature whimpers. It almost never sat in the Chair while fully awake, always when he was just out of cryo, half dead and frozen, unable to fight back. This is different, this is them expecting it to get in the Chair itself, awake, knowing full well what happens when it does.

“No?” Pierce repeats. “That’s not an option soldier.” He waves over two agents, one with a catch pole, one with a shocking stick. They advance and the creature growls. It will not go to the Chair! Not easily anyway. The one with the catch pole lunges forward, trying to loop it around the creatures neck, but it dances away, baring its teeth. From its other side the man with the shocking stick jumps forward, but again the creature dodges. They continue this back and forth for a minute before more men with catch poles and shocking sticks pour into the room, surrounding the creature. One manages to hook its neck, allowing another to land a hit with the stick. More loops around its neck and it is dragged to the chair, forced to sit, and restrained with the thick metal bands it cannot break. The creatures breathing quickens as the headpiece descends upon it and screams when the electricity courses through it, burning through its skull and near cooking its brain. It screams and screams, but no mercy is given. When the pain finally stops, the creature can do nothing but shiver as pierce recites the words, taking over the creatures will.

“Ready to comply.” it rasps, throat raw from screaming.

“Good, good.” the handler says.


	6. captain america

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the creature gets a surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize in advance.

“I have a surprise for you.” the handler tells the creature once it has finished it mission. It seems that Pierce is okay with slight emotions, so the creature perks up a bit. The handler smiles and runs his fingers through its hair.

“Come.” the handler instructs. The creature moves to stand up, but the handler puts his hand on the creatures shoulder and pushes it back down to its knees. “No, you can stay on your knees.” Pierce corrects. The creature nods and stays on its knees. It shuffles after the handler down hallways.

“We found him a few months ago in the arctic, and he wont cooperate, so I'm afraid he's going to have to be put down. That’s where you come in Soldier. You look very much like a dear friend of his, and we think there is no better way to punish him than to have his own friend kill him.” The handler opens a door and leads the creature inside. On the other side of the room is a large man in a, in the creatures opinion (the creature is a thing, a weapon, it has no opinions), ridiculous red, white, and blue uniform, chained by the neck to a wall and his hands bound behind his back. The prisoner looks up and sees the creature kneeling on the ground and his eyes widen.

“Bucky?” he almost cries. “Bucky, oh my god what did they do to you?” He tries to move forward, toward the creature, but is stopped by the chain around his neck. The handler pets the creatures hair, and the man jerks forward. “You keep your hands off of him!” he growls. Not nearly as frightening as the creatures own growls, but impressive for a human.

“Do you like what we've done with him Captain? He's here just to see you.” The handler looks down at the creature. “Soldier, you may kill him any way you like.”

“What?” the ‘Captain’ utters. The creature looks up at the handler and tilts its head.

“Can-can i…”

“Any way you like.” The creature looks over at the Captain, “I’ll leave you to it.” then Pierce walks out and closes the door behind him.

“Bucky. Oh Bucky I thought you were dead, how long have they had you?” the Captain cries. The creature shuffles toward the Captain and sits down next to him. It leans back and crushes the bonds around the Captains wrists with its metal hand. Immediately he flings his arms around the creature and pulls it into a deep hug. This will make killing him much more satisfying. The creature says nothing and lets the Captain embrace him. After a long minute, the Captain pulls back.

“What’s this?” the Captain asks, running his fingers down the metal arm.

“I needed a new one.” the creature explains, hopefully in a vague enough way that the Captain will still believe it to be his friend.

“Oh Bucky, I'm so sorry.” He goes back in for another hug and the creature lets him. Slowly the creature lays them down, then maneuvers so it is on top of the Captain. It gets up into a crouch so it is looming above the Captain.

“Bucky, what are you doing?” the Captain asks carefully. The creature says nothing. The Captains neck is protected by the strap of metal going around it, so this mans death will have to be a slow and painful one. But as the creature runs its fingers along the captains shoulder, it feels a problem. The material is strong and durable, built to withstand knives. It stretches out its claws and scratches subtly at the fabric. Its claws do nothing. Well thats going to make this difficult. The creature sighs.

“Whats wrong?” the Captain asks. The creature just pulls out its smallest knife and runs it along the fabric, testing.

“Bucky. What are you doing?” the Captain repeats, more urgently this time. The creature finds a seam in the middle of the chest that it can push its little blade through and begins ripping out the stitches. The Captain shifts uncomfortably so the creature places its metal hand on the Captains shoulder and holds him down.

“Bucky, stop.” the Captain orders, trying to push the creature away. It just shoves down harder with its metal arm and places a knee on the Captains abdomen.

“Bucky, get off me, what’s wrong?” The Captain tries to get up again and the creature shoves him back down.

“Stay down!” the creature growls, continuing to rip at the uniforms seams.

“No! Bucky, tell me whats going on! Why are you acting like this?” the Captain demands. It’s made its way through enough of the seam it can slip its hand under the fabric and rip the front part of the uniform off.

“Bucky! Stop it!” The Captain finally sounds a little afraid, twisting in the creatures grip. The creature shifts so the metal hand is holding the Captains arms above his head, and its knees hold down the Captains hips. The front of the man is finally revealed; The man is all hard muscle, not an ounce of fat on his body. The creature sweeps its eyes up and down the mans torso before lifting its head and smiling at the struggling Captain. He pales at the sight of its teeth.

“You're not Bucky.” the Captain accuses.

“How do you know that? Hydra’s had me a very long time. I've got a new arm, why not new teeth as well? And you see, I like these teeth, they're so good at ripping, and tearing.” the creature croons.

“Bucky?” the Captain whimpers.

“Mm, maybe once.” the creature lies. It knows it has never been a Bucky, but the creature has not had fun in a long time, so it will pretend.

“No, you still are, Bucky, what are you doing?” the captain pleads.

“Well I can't very well eat you through that uniform, can I?” the creature explains.

“What? Eat- Bucky what are you saying?” But the creature says nothing else, just braces itself with its flesh hand on one of the Captains shoulders and leans down and hovers over the mans chest, just below his collar bone, drinking in his scent. Then, finally, he bites down. The Captain lets out a scream through closed teeth.

The creature has never tasted anything like this. It stays, teeth sunk into the Captains flesh for a moment, letting the blood flow onto its tongue, before tugging back, pulling the flesh with it. The Captain really screams this time, mouth wide open and eyes screwed shut. The creature flips the flesh around in its mouth, tasting every corner of it. It tastes human, but… more. richer, fuller, almost sweeter. The creature revels in it. It shudders as the meat slides down its throat.

captain america

 

Bucky looks back down at Steve. He's sure his face emotes perfectly well his horror, disgust, and pain. Not only the physical pain of his own flesh being ripped from his body, but an emotional pain, the pain that comes with betrayal. Because Bucky has betrayed him. Bucky is killing him, no, not just that, Bucky is eating him! Like some crazed beast and Steve is trying to get away, he really is, but Bucky is strong, stronger than he ever was before and Steve feels like he's that small, weak boy again, never able to overpower anybody.

Steve knows he's been in the ice for a long time, that so much can change, but this… this isn't change, this is an absolute fucking flip flop of identities. This looks like his Bucky, if you take out the long pointed teeth and cut his hair a bit, and this sounds like his Bucky, but this isn't his Bucky. Like he had said, maybe once this was Bucky, but not anymore, and in his place is a monster.

the creature

The creature has torn through one of the Captains pectorals, but he's still awake, still sobbing and screaming, and the creature loves it. It moves down the Captains body, now taking from the mans abdomen. It’s reached down to the organs and the man has stopped screaming, instead is just shivering and crying. The creature carefully slices through the abdominal wall and begins to pull out his organs. It places them gently on the floor, making sure it doesn't sever anything, so that the man could continue living.

Once it has emptied the abdominal cavity, the creature sits back and admires it work, all the captains organs, out and on display and still pulsing with life. The Captain himself is slack on the floor, breathing shallow and eyes tracking the creatures every move. The creature is pleased with the Captains durability, one that probably matches its own and makes this process so much more fun. The creature can reach into the Captains body and trance its finger down the inside of his back. The Captain twitches each time the creature pets his spine.

The Captain coughs and mutters something the creature cant quite hear, so it leans down over him and listens. “Please, Bucky, please. Make it stop Bucky, make it stop please.” The Captain continues his muttering as the creature pulls away. It smiles.

Then there’s a sound behind it, and the creature whirls around, snarling. Its handler steps into the room and the creature shuts its mouth quickly, it can’t show any aggression toward the handler. The handler stands on the far side of the room and doesn't come near it or its plaything.

“My my Soldier, you've truly drawn this out haven't you. Well done. Feel free to continue, I’ll just be here.” Pierce waves a handing a ‘go on’ motion, so the creature turns back to the Captain. His breathing is getting shallower every moment, he's giving up, he's slipping. The creature slides up its sleeve and reaches up through his body, past the lungs until it can grab the Captains barely beating heart. It holds the muscle in its hand for a moment, the tugs it swiftly out of the mans body. The Captains muscles all stiffen one last time before going completely limp, and at last the Captain lay still.

The creature holds the heart in its hand while it goes back up the the Captains chest and starts on the other pectoral. Once it is done with that it moves to the left arm and chews through the flesh of the upper arm, eating until it is down to the bone. The creature takes the bone in its metal hand and crushes it, then pulls the arm off the body. The creature gnaws on the end of the bone and takes more bites of flesh from the arm until it is full, then looks down at the heart in its hand. It squeezes it slowly, causing blood to ooze from it, running down its hand and drip drip dripping onto the floor. The the creature brings it to its mouth and takes a large bite.

The heart has always been the creatures favorite part of the body, but this one, this one is strong, and tastes even better than the Captains flesh. Rich and sweet, it is almost like candy to the lyudoyed. It takes slow bites, savoring the muscle and just holding the last piece in its mouth, letting the meat sit on its tongue, savoring it, knowing it will never again taste anything quite like this.

Finally the creature swallows and turns to its handler. Staying on its knees it makes its way to Pierce, stopping a foot in front of him with its head bowed. It feels Pierces hand in its blood soaked hair, and he curls his fingers to gently scratch at the creatures scalp. The creature almost melts right there, but manages to stay on its knees.

“Good boy, you did very good Soldier.” the handler praises. “But it’s time to go back to your room.” And so the creature trails after Pierce, on its knees, leaving bloody smears all the way. The creature obediently shuffles into its room, which is still more like a cell than anything else, and the handler shuts the door gently behind it. The creature, full and content, lays down on the bed it had been provided in the last decade, and swiftly falls asleep.

————————

Over the years the creature is given new missions, then shoved in cryo, then awakened and wiped and controlled, sent on more missions, on and on, over and over, for the next twenty years. Then it is given a mission, a small pale young man with a crooked back, and everything changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just spent four pages killing captain america. what has my life come to?


End file.
